


Sweetened Sorrow

by orphan_account



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Bittersweet Ending, F/M, Fiveya-freeform, Not Incest if you understand Fiveya, Suicide, Vanya needs a hug, five is in denial, fiveya - Freeform, literally my first work, major angst, major character deaths, reggie is an ass, slow as fuck updates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:13:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24622189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In which Vanya communicates with Five through letters, letters and Klaus's help.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy/Vanya Hargreeves
Comments: 11
Kudos: 67





	1. Death of the heart

**Author's Note:**

> This is in one of those 'Five never left' AU's! They're all around 15-ish when this takes place. Don't know how long this story is gonna go on for, but I hope it goes on long enough haha. Anyways, enjoy this ball of angst I created!

Five Hargreeves had gone through a lot in the past few weeks. Non-stop training, Reginald getting on his ass for just about everything, missions, putting up with most of his annoying siblings, and now this. Five was currently walking home with the rest of The Umbrella Academy after a stressful day, the sun already beginning to set from behind the buildings of the city. As Five reflected back on the events that took place earlier that day, it was safe to say that out of all that had happened in the past few weeks, this was just about the worst day of them all, and it wasn’t even dark out yet. 

  
The day had begun relatively normally, or as normal as it could get in a house full of mostly superpowered teenagers anyways. Five had woken up before the alarm as he did most days now. The reasoning behind that was the fact that he had been sleeping in Vanya’s room more often than not for the past year or so. At first it was always Five just staying with her until she fell asleep, making sure she was alright. He knew she didn’t like being alone all the time, contrary to his siblings beliefs that she wanted to be left out of anything and everything, never to be around another living soul. However, staying until she fell asleep quickly became a hassle, because as soon as he would get up to leave, Vanya would always awake. When he told her he needed to leave, Five would always catch a glimpse of sadness in her eyes before her inevitable agreement, leaving him partly guilty as he left. Every time he used to do that, in the mornings they wouldn’t speak of it, however he could always catch the mild look of disappointment in her brown eyes. After about a month of that arrangement, Five sucked it up and decided to stay with her until the morning. To say that it was only nice would be a huge understatement on Five’s part. The first few nights, it was a little awkward, trying to figure out how the both of them could get as comfortable as possible on Vanya’s sad excuse of a bed. Eventually though, once everything was figured out, Five found himself unable to sleep unless he was beside Vanya, unable to go without their nightly arrangement. And that’s where Five found himself this morning, waking up on Vanya’s bed in the early morning, teleporting back to his own room before anyone could take notice that he had slept beside her once more. When Five got back to his own room, he began to get dressed, not finding a reason to go back to sleep if he only had a few mere minutes before the alarm went off. 

That morning was the most average part of the day, and Five shouldn’t have taken it for granted. Breakfast went off as usual, nothing particularly special about it except for the fact that Reginald didn’t bother to join them. Luther and Allison kept sneaking glances at each other, but Luther being the obedient dog he was, didn’t bother speaking even with their father absent from the table. Klaus reeked of cigarettes as usual, which wasn’t new in the slightest. Diego wasn’t very talkative that morning, however he was scarfing down pancakes like it was his last day alive. Ben was relatively silent for most of breakfast as well, but he wasn’t in a down mood. He seemed distracted was all, or at least that’s what Five assumed. Vanya would share glances with Five a few times, maybe even a small smile when nobody else was looking. Five would smile back, give her the slightest nod of acknowledgement, and that was all. Looking back on the day, Five wished he would’ve done a little more, like actually opening his cursed mouth to talk to her.

Immediately after breakfast was over, Reginald shooed Vanya off to her daily violin practice while he hurried the others to go train. Training wasn’t anything unusual, however to send them right after eating a fuck ton of food wasn’t what Five would’ve hoped for. The training session that morning was a little rougher than he had expected, and it left most of them sore, and a few of them with a shitty attitude. By a few of them, Luther and Diego were the candidates. Diego had gotten a little out of hand with the knife throwing, and got a little too close to getting Allison in the arm. Luther being Luther took it among himself to ‘put Diego in his place’ as he would’ve probably liked to word it. Things got a little..physical between the two of them, and it only stopped when Reginald barged into their training area and dismissed them to go shower. Since that happened, Luther and Diego haven't been giving each other the nicest looks. 

After all of them showered and began to re-dress, Five assumed they would be able to catch a slight break to ease up, but once again he made the wrong assumption, for they were all called on a mission not ten minutes after showering. Stopping yet another bank robbery was the mission for that day, which wasn’t very hard compared to a few other missions they've had to face recently. It was close by too, and because of that Reginald didn’t bother driving them to where they needed to go. Instead, he made them all go on foot, which Five found as odd. If it were up to Five, he would’ve suggested they take the car without Reginald’s permission seeing as they all knew how to drive, personally taught by Reginald himself a year or two ago. However, it was not up to him, it was apparently up to Father's beloved number one, who made them sprint like hell the whole way. Lucky for Five, he had a cheat, and used teleportation to jump ahead of the others every few moments. Although, that only proved to wear him out faster, so he was resigned to sprint with the others after awhile.

By the time they got there, most of them were out of energy and already sore from that morning’s training session. And that’s when Five realized it wouldn’t be such an easy mission after all. And it wasn’t, not in the slightest. It started off as any bank robbery mission would, they got inside the building and went off to do their respective parts. Diego, Allison and Luther would handle most of the armed robbers, Klaus and Five would help get the hostages out, and Ben would do a little bit of everything, and finish off anyone he had to. That’s how it always went, and it was usually easy peasy lemon squeezy or whatever the fuck normal kids say, however this time it was a little different. Everyone was doing just fine for a good chunk of the mission, until the pack of six siblings began to notice the light stench of smoke in the air, and screams in the distance. There was a fire going on somewhere in the building..that wasn’t good. Luther, Diego and Five were the ones to go check out the fire, while Ben, Allison and Klaus dealt with the easier parts of the mission. 

The fire was worse than any of them had initially thought. As soon as they entered the room where the fire first spawn, Five was caught off guard by a large puff of black smoke. There were hostages inside, and a lot of them too. What took them all by surprise was the fact that none of them had realized there was a whole other room filled with innocent people. Luther was the most beat up about that, but he didn’t have time to dwell on their mistakes with the current situation they were in.

Five remembered how the three of them rushed into the room, the sound of crackling and screams filling the smoky air. The flames were bright and blinding, dark grey smoke circling the flames like a vulture circling its prey. It was all too much, and it had made it hard to pinpoint how many people were in the room. Without warning, Diego had just launched himself forward without completely knowing where he was going. Five couldn’t remember much of what happened, it went by too fast for him to properly process any of it. All he knew, was that when they had finished, Diego got a few burns on his legs, Luther was covered in ash, Ben was bloodied, Allison seemed alright, Klaus had gotten grazed by a bullet on his left leg, and Five got a few minor cuts and burns on his arms, maybe a bruise or two on his abdomen as a bonus. It wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle, but they were all seriously drained of energy and needed a break. The six of them were ready to go on their merry way, back home to treat their injuries and rest awhile, but there always had to be another obstacle in the way. Always. In this case, the obstacle blocking them from getting home was society in general. News vehicles, fans, politics, you name it, they were all there, and they were all ganging up on the six Umbrella Academy heroes. 

The news reporters would ask question after question while some woman beside him took their photos for the paper. Fans that were at the scene had started screaming nonsense, trying to touch them and throw things at them. It was horrible in Five’s opinion, the cherry on top of the shittiest day of the month so far. They stayed out there until the sun began to set, and that’s where Five found himself now, trekking behind his siblings with an annoyed look in his green eyes. They were all still bloody and gross, sore and low on energy as they walked along the streets they were familiar with. Five would’ve teleported his way back home, but he didn’t want to risk damaging his energy levels even more, especially when they would most likely have to go through this process again soon. As Five and his siblings neared the home they were oh so familiar with, he couldn’t help but wonder why today had been so..awful. Days like this were to be expected out of extraordinary teenagers, it wasn’t anything unusual..and yet throughout the day, all of them seemed to be on edge, as if waiting for something atrocious to happen. It was just some indescribable tension in the air that made Five picture something terrible happening that day.   
But it seemed as if nothing had happened..nothing out of the ordinary, other than the fact that they had ran out of energy a bit sooner than normal. Five ultimately decided to just forget the odd feeling, noting that nothing unbearably awful had happened that day as the six Hargreeves siblings finally arrived home. As soon as they walked inside their household, Allison was the first to make a dash toward the stairs before any of her brothers could, “I’m showering first!” She announced proudly, racing up the stairs before anyone could stop her.

  
_'I suppose that argument is settled'_

Five thought to himself 

________________________________________________________________

After each of them had taken their time to shower, put on new clothes and let Grace examine them, Five decided to go find Vanya and tell her about the day he and the others experienced. Usually when Five got back from missions or events, he would tell Vanya about them, complaining about how he would much rather be at home with her than on some boring mission or stuffy event. As Five began to make his way towards Vanya’s bedroom, he realized he hadn’t properly had time to say goodbye to her that morning. Usually when nobody was around to see, they would give each other a small yet sincere goodbye hug. Five didn’t see the point in it at first, until Vanya told him, _“You never know what could happen.”_ Five had wanted to tell her that there wasn’t a need, that he would always come back in one piece, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it when he saw a broken look in her eyes, something he often saw when they brought up anything related to the subject of him never coming home after a mission. Besides, he would be lying if he said he didn’t like their hugs, he wouldn't want them to stop.

Five let out a sigh as he finally came up to Vanya’s bedroom door, something he had grown very familiar with when he came to see how she was doing after he got home from missions, or when she was finished practicing Violin, or even just in their free time. Without another thought, Five brought his hand up to the doorknob, not bothering with knocking as he opened up the door. The first thing Five noticed was the fact that Vanya wasn’t in her room. The second thing Five caught sight of was that Vanya’s room wasn’t as tidy as it usually was. Not to say that Vanya was someone who cleaned her room 24/7, but she was usually well arranged. Instead, sheet music was scattered, her violin was carelessly lying on the floor, and her bed was an utter mess. That odd feeling Five had felt throughout the day had returned, that odd tension that caused his blood to run cold and fingers start to twitch. 

However, Five decided to bury that feeling deep down, ignored.

_'I’ll just go and ask Pogo. He’ll know where Vanya is.'_ Five silently decided as he shut Vanya’s door, and began walking in the direction of Pogo’s room, only to be stopped by Luther’s hand gripping his arm. "Luther?," Five asked, confused and a little uneasy.

Five tried to pull away, but his brother’s grip only grew tighter the more he moved. Luther didn't know his own strength, because if Five was sore in the arm before, he felt even worse now. “What do you think you’re doing?” Five asked in a snappy tone, growing impatient with Luther's lack of explanation. Luther simply shushed him, trying to pull Five toward him, but Five was already short on patience, and in a flash of blue light, teleported about three feet away from Luther. Five glared at the other 15 year old with an odd expression, his green eyes cold and even a little hostile. That feeling had come back, and this time Five couldn't push it down. “Dad told us all to report to our rooms right away. _He’ll_ be making sure we’re all in bed, not Pogo or Grace.” Luther explained, to which Five could only roll his eyes. When Five didn’t move from where he was standing, Luther took it among himself to walk closer and say, “Five, we have to.” Of course Luther would say that. _Of course_ obedient number one would be so willing to enforce dad’s rules as if it were law. “Fine.” Five said after a moment of silence, walking past Luther and to his own room. As much as he wanted to put up more of a fight, Five had a plan. He would go to his room for an hour or two before getting up to check on Vanya, who should be in her room by then. Anything to get Luther and Father off his ass. 

  
Five reluctantly flopped down on his bed once he was inside his room, staring at the ceiling with a cold expression. Why was he so pissed all of a sudden? He didn’t really have a reason to be. Well, at least not as much as he was anyways. Five let out what seemed to have been the millionth sigh that day as he leaned into the warmth and comfort of his bed. Even if he didn’t want to, he was beginning to feel his body and mind drift into a light slumber. The light stages of sleep turned into a deeper one, and before he knew it, he was fast asleep, unable to wake at his own command. The entire night, that odd feeling from earlier wouldn’t leave him alone.  
________________________________________________________________

_**Screaming. Screaming. Pleading. Pleading. Dying. Dying.** _

Five shot up from his bed, green eyes widened as his heart pounded rapidly in his chest, as if threatening to burst out at any second. Five had been awoken to the sound of a scream, a very loud and strained one at that. It sounded terrified, and broken, and..Allison. Five didn’t know what was going on, but he found himself jumping up from his bed in an instant, running out the door as fast as he could. Normally, he would’ve just assumed that Allison had stubbed a toe, or someone broke one of her perfume bottles, anything along the lines of those pointless reasons. But Five couldn’t bring himself to believe that, for the odd tension he had been feeling all throughout yesterday was back, worse than ever. The feeling consumed him, swallowing him up like how a shark devours its prey, making it harder and harder to breathe by the second. Right before Five teleported to where Allison was, he saw the others rushing out of their rooms as well, clearly woken up by Allison’s blood-curdling screams. Almost immediately after Five caught a glimpse of his other siblings, he was consumed by a flash of blue light and the familiar feeling of his powers in action.

Five ended up in the training room, not exactly where he would expect Allison to be. She was crouched down, a few feet away from him, crouched in front of something he wasn’t able to see, blocked by objects in the way. “Allison?” Five asked, his heart still pounding in his chest. By the time he decided to step closer, the rest of his siblings had already ran in and rushed to Allison’s side. They had all caught sight of whatever Allison had been screaming about. Everyone stayed completely silent, but Five didn’t miss the look of terror that flashed through everyone’s face. Ben even began to tear up a little. Five stepped closer to Allison, his hands unknowingly becoming shakier with each step until he caught a glimpse of what Allison had been crouched over, looking down on with horror. He saw her. He saw Vanya, lying on the ground, lifeless and limp. Five was still for a moment, as if frozen in time, but that all melted away the second his mind processed a fraction of what he had just seen. Five immediately dashed toward Allison, almost knocking her over as he hovered over Vanya’s still form. Five felt his breath hitch as he stared down at her body, a thin line of dried blood starting from her lips down to her chin. Five’s body began to shake without an intent on stopping any time soon. He felt as if he were no longer in control of his own body as he got down and gently picked up Vanya’s body, so light and fragile in his arms.

“Vanya..” Five muttered, as if he expected an answer. His green eyes were locked on her, her pale face, now cold and lifeless to the touch.

“Vanya, Vanya..Vanya, no.” Five began to say under his breath repeatedly while being blinded by his own cold tears.

Funny, he didn’t even notice he had started crying. When was the last time he had cried?

By the time the other’s could recover from their shock and start trying to get Five to calm down, he was out of it. He was lost in his own little world as he stared down at Vanya’s lifeless body, tears streaming down his cheeks and body shaking without any sense of control.   
He was lost in his thoughts, and for right now, he didn’t seem to care if he’d be lost in them for all of eternity.

  
_‘I never got to say goodbye. I never got to give her a hug. I never got to leave with her. I never got to tell her how extraordinary she was. I’ll never get to see her again. What happened to her? She’s gone. She’s gone. She’s gone. I’m gone.'_

Five’s thoughts kept repeating over and over and over, like a broken record with no end. His siblings tried to talk to him, offer him comfort, put a hand on his shoulder or back, but he didn’t feel it. He didn’t feel them, he didn’t hear them, he was still in his own little world. He didn’t move or speak when Reginald, Pogo and Grace came and took Vanya’s body away from him. He didn’t make any acknowledgement when his siblings left with Father to see what would happen. Five was empty at that moment in time.

He felt as if a part of him died. A part of his soul. A part of his heart. It was dead, it was gone, and Five would never get it back. 

_Vanya was dead. She was gone. And Five would never get her back._


	2. Gone, Gone, Gone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so like, sorry for taking this long on an update??? Like, holy shit?? I had more than half of the second chapter done a few days after I posted the first chapter, but me and my lazy ass decided to put it off for no real reason at all, so I apologize for that :")) With that information in mind, sorry if I don't update this for awhile aaa- Anyways, hope you enjoy! Not too happy with this, but hey, I don't feel like re-writing it. I didn't check for a lot of spelling errors, so go easy on me haha!

_The room was pitch black, shadows surrounding every nook and cranny in the enclosed space, consuming Vanya as she screamed and sobbed, banging her hands against the cold metal door. She had been at it for hours now, her sobs beginning to become weak and her knuckles raw and bloody. She didn’t know what was happening, and she sure as hell didn’t know what to do or how to get out. Vanya had tried calling for someone before realizing that her siblings were off on a mission, unable to hear her cries and pleads for help. By now, Vanya had just about given up. She had stopped banging on the door, and crawled over to a corner of the shadowed room, lying down on the icy floor as her body began to shake uncontrollably. And then the door opened. The door opened, but Vanya couldn’t bring herself to feel relieved. Instead, a new wave of fear washed over her. A layer of indescribable terror that made the blood flowing through her veins run cold, like a river in the midst of winter._

Vanya’s brown eyes opened to a dull afternoon, sunshine pouring through the clear windows of the training room. She was on the floor of the room, gazing up at the ceiling with a confused expression painting her face. When did she get there? Did she fall asleep? Strange, Vanya hadn’t remembered falling asleep in the past few hours, let alone in the training room, a place where she was most often unwanted.

Vanya found that unusual..she didn’t remember ever coming to the training room. In fact, Vanya couldn’t seem to remember anything after her daily violin practice, everything coming to her in a haze before leaving her mind blank once more, without a clue as to what events lead up to her unconscious.

The loss of memory wasn’t the only thing Vanya was beginning to become skeptical of. Her body felt strange as well, unfamiliar even. Instead of feeling warmth flow throughout her body as usual, she felt rather cold. Cold and hollow, like there was nothing to her but freezing winter air. Vanya thought nothing of it at first, but it only worsened when she stood up. When she stood, it didn’t only send an icy chill throughout her being, but she also felt far lighter than she ever had before, almost as if she weighed the mass of a feather. Vanya was beginning to freak out a little, hands starting to lightly tremor as she walked forward, trying to think rationally about this. But with every step she took, waves of freezing energy rushed through her at the speed of light, causing her to stop and shake her head, as if it would somehow clear away these awful physical feelings.

Obviously, it didn’t work, and instead left Vanya feeling something similar to lightheaded. In an attempt to stunt her dizzy eyes, Vanya looked down at her feet..and that’s when she saw it. A body. Or more specifically, her body. At first, Vanya just stood there as if her feet were glued to the ground, staring at the body..her body. However, as the seconds ticked by, her reaction began to worsen. It had started with her staring in shock, to tremors of terror racking her being, to full on screaming. The next thing she knew, Vanya was on the ground curled up and letting out a pained sob, utterly disturbed and terrified. The realization hit her like a truck, and it only caused her to sob harder..she was dead, and she couldn’t remember how she died. As she cried, all she could think about were the things she never got to accomplish, the words she never got to say, the experiences she’ll never get to have. When Vanya’s sobs began to lighten into silent sniffles, she couldn’t bring herself to look at her dead body, for she knew she would only start to violently cry once more.

________________________________________________________________

Vanya had spent the next few hours huddled in the corner of the training room, looking back on her life as she tried her best to avoid the sight of her physical body, seemingly mocking her with its presence, just waiting until she completely broke down in tears again. Vanya sat there, the cold and hollow feeling throughout her being not leaving..but did she really expect it to? She was dead, made up of nothing but dull energy at this point. She was a ghost, a spirit, made to feel cold, hollow and empty. Somehow Vanya thought being dead would feel different, the thought crossing her mind from time to time whenever Klaus would tell her about the bad spirits, the ones that would scream and haunt him throughout the day. Obviously, being dead felt nothing like what she had initially imagined. But there was no time to fog her mind about what being dead felt like, that would just be adding a fresh new layer of distress to Vanya’s current situation. Vanya had been so caught up in these small, unimportant thoughts that she hadn’t realized the sound of running, yelling and groaning. Her siblings were home..and yet she didn’t move from her sad little spot in the training room, seemingly glued to the cold floor as she sorrowfully listened to the sounds of her sibling’s voices. They sounded tired..more than usual.

‘Of course they do..they’ve been gone all day.’ Vanya thought to herself. And that’s when she realized she hadn’t gotten to say goodbye to Five that morning. She hadn’t gotten to give him her goodbye hug..her last one. Hah. She always thought she would be saying goodbye to him, afraid something would go wrong on a mission..turns out that wasn’t the case at all. She missed her chance, and now she’d never get it back. “I’m..I’m sorry, Five..” Vanya whispered to herself. She really was sorry to him, sorry for a lot of things. She was sorry for not giving him a last goodbye hug, sorry he’s had to put up with her for the past few years, sorry he would have to find out she died, sorry she never got to leave this house with him when they turned eighteen, sorry for..everything, everything that happened before now, and everything that she’d be putting him through later. With a sad sigh, full of both sadness and sorrow, Vanya shut her eyes, letting thoughts consume her once again.

________________________________________________________________

Vanya didn’t know how much time had passed since she shut her eyes and let thoughts of every kind consume her, drowning her away into the deep depths of sorrowful seas. All she knew, was that she had opened her eyes to the sound of a scream..Allison’s scream to be exact. Vanya had jumped up immediately before shuddering as her gaze landed on her living sister, who was checking the pulse of her cold corpse. Vanya felt as if she were ready to cry again as she watched Allison, who was screaming and shaking her dead body, as if trying to wake her up from the afterlife. Vanya had never seen her sister like this before..she looked more terrified and worried than ever. Vanya had wanted attention from Allison before when she was the slightest bit younger, but not in this circumstance..Vanya would give up anything to stop Allison’s pained look, to stop her horrified screaming and shaking form. And as if the world was out for Vanya for dying, Five burst through the door, his green eyes tired yet frantic. Vanya froze, eyes widened and sad, “F-Five?” Vanya asked in a gentle whisper, forgetting that he wouldn’t be able to hear her. Soon after she said Five’s name, the rest of her siblings barged in, all clustered together as they ran to Allison’s side, curious as to what she had been screaming about. Vanya watched each of her sibling’s expressions change immediately, from joking and mildly concerned to horrified and depressed in a matter of seconds. Ben looked away and started to tear up, and Vanya frowned, eyes starting to gloss over as she stared at her siblings. Klaus hadn’t seen her ghost, for as soon as he saw her body, he turned away with labored breathing, eyes wide and frantic. Every one of their reactions made Vanya want to sob, to scream and cry, but nothing was happening. “I-I-I’m right here!” Vanya choked out, and she swore she saw Klaus flinch, however he went still right after, the look of cold shock returning to his face.

Vanya didn’t think it could get any worse, she didn’t think it was possible for her heart to break any more than it was..and then Five slowly walked over. “No..no no no no no!” Vanya began to whisper under her breath, quick and pleading as Five began to get closer and closer to her corpse. When Five was finally in eyeshot, he saw her lifeless body, and as soon as he got the slightest glimpse of it, he dashed over in less than a millisecond, shoving Allison aside in the process. Vanya watched as so many different emotions flashed through Five’s eyes as he gently cradled her dead body in his arms. “Vanya..” She heard him mutter, wincing at the amount of utter pain in his voice.

“Vanya, Vanya..Vanya, no.” Five whispered, tears gathering in his eyes. All Vanya Hargreeves could do was watch, guilt washing over her as she stared, “Five, no! Don’t cry! Please, s-stop!” Vanya yelped, her own voice getting caught in her throat with a sob as she watched tears stream down her favorite person’s cheeks. Vanya saw as Five’s face went pale, and he went seemingly brain dead.

Vanya saw her other siblings crying and trying to calm Five down with no success. Vanya saw Reginald, Pogo and Grace take her physical body away. She saw as her siblings followed. She had seen a lot of things in the span of only a few minutes, and she was already preparing to see much..much more.

________________________________________________________________

Awhile after everyone but Five had left the training room, Grace had practically dragged Five to his room, ignoring his protests and telling him that he needed to cool off for a bit, as if someone he loved didn’t just die. Vanya hadn’t found it in hearself to follow them, not wanting to see Five in pain any longer. Of course, she would have to visit him eventually..but right now, she didn’t think she could without sobbing every few minutes. So instead, she left the training room and began to walk in the halls. She could be as loud as she wanted, as silly as she wanted, all because the cameras could no longer watch her, but even as a ghost, Vanya seemingly faded into the background again, silent.

“So, this is what it looks like?” Vanya muttered to herself as she looked around. What she meant was, ‘this is what it looks like to a ghost?’ because everything looked slightly different. Everywhere was brighter, almost as if sunlight was pouring on every corner and shadow in the hall, and some colors she found herself unable to see, which was a little strange. She was so caught up in staring at the walls, objects and doors that she didn’t notice Klaus staring at her from a few feet away. “Vanya..?” Klaus asked, making Vanya jump and let out a squeak of terror.

If she weren’t already dead, she swore she would’ve had a mini heart attack. However, her surprise quickly faded as she turned to face Klaus, her eyes immediately lighting up, “K-Klaus?” She asked, getting choked up once more as tears began to gather in her eyes. She saw Klaus smile and nod, letting out a small chuckle, “Jesus, you sure did give us all a scare, Vanya! I mean, look at you! The ghost look isn’t the best on you, not gonna lie. Mind telling me how you uh..you know, kicked the bucket?” He asked. He was hiding all the pain with comments like this, like putting a mask on to disguise what really lies beneath. Vanya let out a small sigh as she looked away from her ghost-seeing brother, a few small tears escaping her eyes, “I..I can’t remember.” She stated. Klaus visibly froze, a hand going to his chin in thought, “Well then, good ol’ number seven, it looks like you’re in luck, because I just might know how to uncover the mystery of your death!” Klaus said. “R-Really?” Vanya couldn’t help but ask, which was a bit of a mistake on her part, because Klaus then looked a little nervous.

“Well..it’s a work in progress of an idea? So..maybe?” He said with a light chuckle.

Well, that’s just swell.


End file.
